Speaker
Description
Grid cells, with their striking hexagonal firing patterns, are neurons which play a key role in the internal navigational system of mammals. This talk will concern a nonlocal Fokker--Planck-like PDE which emerged in a pursuit to better understand the effects of noise on grid cell activity. When this model produces hexagonal network activity which persists when translated in accordance with the mammal's movement in physical space, the model is in a setting which enables the mammal's ability to orientate itself. Through aspects concerning the existence and stability of particular solutions to the PDE, we explore for which parameter settings such activity could emerge.
Based on collaborations with:
José Antonio Carrillo, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
Maren Brathen Kristoffersen, Department of Mathematics, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1433 As, Norway
Pierre Roux, Institut Camille Jordan, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 69134 Ecully, France
